But at that time your people – everyone whose name is found written in the book – will be delivered. Multitudes who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake: some to everlasting life, others to shame and everlasting contempt. Daniel 12:1,2 Picture the scene. A courtroom with a judge and jury. A gallery full of people. The prosecutor armed with damning evidence. And a defendant who knows his guilt. The prosecutor has a book full of the wicked things the defendant has done. With a smirk on his face, he begins to open his ...
Yet it was the Lord’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer, and though the Lord makes his life an offering for sin, he will see his offspring and prolong his days, and the will of the Lord will prosper in his hand. Isaiah 53:10 Seven hundred years before Jesus was born, the prophet Isaiah got a glimpse of what Jesus would do. The details in Isaiah chapter 53 lead us to believe that Isaiah saw pretty clearly how Jesus would die on a cross. The selfless sacrifice of the suffering servant of the ...
Say to those with fearful hearts, “Be strong, do not fear; your God will come, he will come with vengeance; with divine retribution he will come to save you.” Isaiah 35:4 Around the year A.D. 156, a man named Polycarp was arrested during a time of Christian persecution. He was the leader of the church in Smyrna. His arrestors urged him to renounce Christ and to make a small offering to the Roman Caesar. They didn’t want to see this old man put to death. In their minds, they were asking a small thing. “Curse Christ, ...
This devotion is selected from Marin Lutheran College’s seasonal devotional series: We are thankful to Martin Luther College and the professors there for providing these devotions. The author Rev. Richard Gurgel serves Martin Luther College as president. Brothers and sisters, we do not want you to be uninformed about those who sleep in death, so that you do not grieve like the rest of mankind, who have no hope. For we believe that Jesus died and rose again, and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him. 1 ...
This devotion is selected from Marin Lutheran College’s seasonal devotional series: We are thankful to Martin Luther College and the professors there for providing these devotions. The author Rev. Daniel Balge serves Martin Luther College as a professor of Greek and German. About three in the afternoon Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” (which means “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”). Matthew 27:46 Can you imagine a sermon just one paragraph long? Probably. One sentence? Maybe. One word? Unlikely. How about a sermon as short as a single letter-in ...
[Jesus said] “Very truly I tell you, a time is coming and has now come when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God and those who hear will live.” John 5:25 We all know what dead is. Dead is powerless and permanent. When someone or something has died, there is no coming back from it. The chances of recovery are now gone. The best veterinarian in the world cannot do any thing for a dog that has been tragically killed by a car. The best doctors cannot dig up a grave and ...
Jesus commanded them not to tell anyone. But the more he did so, the more they kept talking about it. People were overwhelmed with amazement. “He has done everything well,” they said. “He even makes the deaf hear and the mute speak.” Mark 7:36,37 It sounds odd that Jesus instructed people not to spread news of the miracle he had just performed. It seems like the type of thing he would want people to know about. He had made a deaf and mute man hear and speak! Bring your sick, blind, deaf, and lame. Jesus can ...
[Jesus said] “But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. Be on guard! Be alert! You do not know when that time will come.” Mark 13:32,33 Surprises break the monotony of the mundane. Surprises often please us. If our experience with surprises has been good in the past, we most likely look forward to having more of them. Of course, there are no surprises for God. He knows all things before they happen. He even knows when the end of the world ...
Who is wise and understanding among you? Let them show it by their good life, by deeds done in the humility that comes from wisdom. But if you harbor bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast about it or deny the truth. Such “wisdom” does not come down from heaven but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic. James 3:13-15 What does it mean to be wise? What does it mean to possess wisdom and understanding? The ancient Greek philosopher Socrates is attributed with saying, “I am the wisest man alive, for I know one ...
Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. James 4:8 If your clothes caught on fire, it might be your first instinct to run. But as a child, you probably received the same instruction I received if faced with this scenario. I was told to stop, drop, and roll. If your clothes are on fire, running away won’t do any good; it will simply fan the flames. But stopping, dropping, and rolling are meant to snuff the fire out by eliminating the ...
